This is very true. But what if the chemicals weren't liquid? Many chemicals begin as a dry solid, then some liquid is added to start the reaction. It makes them safer to transport. So what if there was some small amt of solid chemical in them, the body was put in on top. Movement of the barrel would cause the solid chemical to spread over the remains more. The water in the remains and any spilled blood could have begun a slight reaction.
The other thing is that TM believed that he might be transporting Stacy's remains, he may have just imagined that the barrel was warm.
Another possibility is that Stacy wasn't in the barrel or container. That DrewP used TM only as a distraction. I have always wondered why DrewP would pick TM as an acomplice. TM wasn't hardcore criminal, as a matter of fact he seems to have a concience. DrewP can read people so he would have known that TM couldn't be a trusted accomplice. So why call on him, except maybe as a distraction? By using him as a distraction everyone is looking for a blue barrel. My bet is that no blue barrel was involved. Since leads are now pointing to a new accomplice, I am guessing that that is what was intended. DrewP figured that TM would go to the cops. So he is the distraction and the accomplice is the one that actually helped him and knew what happened.
From what we know of Tom Morphey, he seems to be a very emotional man, and was very frightened of his step-brother, DP. I can easily see that knowing what DP was capable of doing, Tom's imagination could play a role in what happened.
I think it's very possible that the barrel/container (Tom Morphey described it as a rectangular container) could have been a set-up distraction.
Bear with me for a moment for some background..............
DP's oldest son, Eric, who's been estranged from the family since Kathleen Savio's death (he thought DP killed her), testified at the pre-trial hearing in January. He testified that he and his brother, Steve, then about 13 and 14, were spending the weekend with DP who was then married to Kathleen. He said that DP ordered he and his brother to go to their room upstairs and stay there. He said that he and his brother heard the sound of Kathleen screaming, furniture being knocked over, glass breaking, etc. When they got up the next morning, Kathleen was gone. This may have been the time that Kathleen went to the emergency room, or she left and was staying with her family.
Knowing that has made me think that in the immediate aftermath of killing Stacy in the master bedroom, DP may have ordered the two older boys, Tom and Chris, to stay in their rooms and watch the two youngest. While the children were all in their rooms, DP may have taken Stacy's body out of the house.
How would he do that? He could have backed Stacy's car up to the garage door and put the lid of the trunk up. Then he brought Stay's body downstairs, and through the door into the garage and quickly put her body in the trunk. With the trunk lid up it would have blocked anyone from seeing what was going on. It could have been done so quickly, that none of the neighbors would have seen it happen.
Neighbor, Sharon Bychowsky, has stated that she left to do errands at about 9:30am and at that time both Drew's car and Stacy's car were in the driveway. She said that when she got home at about 11:30am, Stacy's car was gone.
I think it's possible that DP killed Stacy, put her body in the trunk of Stacy's car, and then drove that car a couple blocks away, and parked it in a residential neighborhood. He then walked home. To anyone driving by the Peterson house, Stacy's car was gone, so they'd presume she was gone.
When LE investigated, cadaver dogs hit on the trunk of Stacy's car, and Stacy's car was the one that DP wouldn't allow LE to examine. So it's logical that Stacy's body was in the trunk of her car at one point.
